A 1940 clip of the Tacoma Narrows suspension bridge in the United States stretching like chewing gum in a gale captured the imagination of a Spanish engineering student who became obsessed with how he could turn that chaos into power.

 

Twelve years later, David Yanez is part of a team inspired by the motion that collapsed the bridge to create a bladeless wind turbine - an inverted-cone-shaped structure half the cost of a conventional machine.

 

The patented design works by spinning air whirlpools in the inverted cones to create patterns of oscillation that are converted into electrical power by a generator.

 

The same phenomenon is responsible for the "singing" of high-tension electrical wires in the wind.

 

The company Vortex Bladeless claims producing energy with a Vortex is 40 per cent cheaper than with a conventional windmill as it costs much less to build and maintain. That cost advantage should make up for a structure that captures less wind and is not quite as efficient as a conventional three-blade windmill.

 

The structure is also much safer for birds as it does away with the revolving blades of conventional models which are estimated to kill hundreds of thousands of birds every year.

 

Vortex's success will depend on whittling down the cost relative to the power coefficient - a measure of how much energy can be converted into electricity.

 

Though the company's ultimate aim is the big wind energy market with turbines of 100 meters (109 yards) tall or more, the first stages of the project have a clear focus on small installations for domestic or small-scale industrial use.

 

Vortex plans to have a three-meter high, 100 watt commercial prototype by the end of the year which could be installed on the ground or on roofs, costing around 300 Euros apiece to produce.

 

The future of the bladeless windmill is aligned to development of energy storing batteries, such as the ones developed by U.S. electric car maker Tesla.

 

The ability to store energy generated by wind and sun would make renewable energy more efficient and would allow people in developing countries to have an independent power source.

 

 

PHOTO: David Yanez touches the alternator of a 6-metre (20-ft.) prototype of a wind turbine without blades in a countryside at the small village in Gotarrendura, Spain, June 2, 2015.

CREDIT: REUTERS/Sergio Perez.